


Through Stripes of Sun and Shadow

by voleuse



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-02
Updated: 2010-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 21:17:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>They came too near the dark, for all their know-how.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Through Stripes of Sun and Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Post-series. Title and summary adapted from U.A. Fanthorpe's _The Silence_.

The waves around of Kyoshi Island lapped against Sokka's skiff. He leaned over the side, almost trailed his hand under the surface before he remembered the unagi, emerging from the depths like a shining blade. He drew back, slumped into the shallow hull of his boat. A breeze wrapped around him, warm and alien, and he wondered where Aang was now, whether he'd found the family he'd lost. He wondered if Appa was lonely, too, and he missed both of them.

Shouts and laughter lanced through his reverie, and Sokka jerked up, propelled by a different sort of nostalgia. On the rocky beach, he saw Suki (even in her robe and paints, he knew her) flipping over, fans twisting in her hands as she blocked Ty Lee's jab. Even as they sparred, he began to guide the skiff to shore, his hands moving automatically as he maneuvered through the gentler waters.

When he reached the shallows, he leapt out of the skiff, dragging it up the beach. Securing it distracted him for a moment, and when he turned his attention back to Suki, she was pinning Ty Lee to the sand, hands around her wrists, and just as he opened his mouth to shout greeting, Ty Lee arched up into a kiss.

Sokka blinked, and then Suki was there, throwing her arms around his neck.

Behind her, Ty Lee winked.

*

 

Three days later, he woke up with his face half-painted, and while their overlapping bedrolls were rumpled, Suki was nowhere to be seen. Sokka stretched, the morning air barely kissed with cold, and Ty Lee swung through the window upside-down.

Sokka shouted and clutched the blanket to his chest, and Ty Lee giggled.

"You _are_ cute in the morning," she remarked. She was holding a small pot of grease-paint in her hands, and a brush. "We're training this morning," she said. "Suki asked me to help you prepare. I ran out of white."

"Uh," Sokka said.

Ty Lee walked to him like she was dancing, and she knelt high over his legs, her tongue sticking out from between her lips as she applied the brush to his forehead. "The blanket might get stained," she said. The brush caressed firmly, sweeping quickly against his skin.

Sokka let the blanket drop, and he hoped the paint would disguise the blood rushing to his cheeks. He hoped the blanket, pooled in his lap, would conceal other things. "Why aren't you wearing make-up?"

"You take longer." Ty Lee shifted over him, tucking the brush handle into her bodice and smoothing her thumb over his eyebrow. She sat back, straddling his knees, her gaze sweeping his bare chest. "Aren't you cold?"

"I'm from the Water Tribe," Sokka replied. "We don't feel cold a lot."

Ty Lee hummed as she rose, her palm pressing against his chest as if she needed to steady herself. "Get dressed," she directed, pointing to robes folded neatly next to him. Sokka didn't twitch, aware of the blanket against his bare skin, and little else. Ty Lee balanced on one foot like a wolf crane, grinning. "I can help," she offered. "Or watch."

"That's all right," Sokka choked out. "Go ahead and, you know. Get ready. I'm okay. Okay?"

"Okay," Ty Lee echoed, and she cartwheeled out the door.

*

 

There were no beaches on the far side of Kyoshi Island. The cliffs were jagged, and Sokka sat on the edge of one, watching the waves crash against the weathered rocks below. When Suki, her face scrubbed clean, settled next to him, he sighed, leaning against her as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I thought you would stay with Hakoda," she murmured.

"I did," Sokka said. "I will." He scraped his heel against the cliff face, feeling pebbles break loose and skitter before they fell. "When Katara and I left, I was afraid we'd never go back. I was afraid we'd never have a home again."

Suki pressed her lips against his shoulder. "It's still your home."

"Yeah." Sokka watched the clouds skating in the sky, the edges of the sun bleeding orange. He blinked, and turned to kiss Suki, to catch her face between his hands. "So what's up with Ty Lee?" he finally asked.

Suki laughed, and dragged him away from the cliff to a less precarious perch.

*

 

The nights were never cold, but when Suki disentangled herself from his arms, Sokka shivered and opened his eyes. He rolled onto his side, and his yelp startled Ty Lee, and beneath her, Suki rolled her eyes.

"_What_?" Sokka asked.

Ty Lee reached out, brushed her fingers against his jaw. "_Really_ cute," she observed, and her foot trailed against his leg. Suki's hand trailed in an altogether different place, and Sokka yelped again. Ty Lee arched into an impossible bow, and Suki twisted beneath her, and then Sokka lost count of hands, and feet, and legs, and also tongues. Ty Lee tasted like salt and honey, and Suki dug her nails into his belly as she sank down onto him.

Sokka groaned when Ty Lee tugged his unknotted hair, and she giggled and leaned back against Suki. Sokka raised his head, confused. "Hey, was I not--"

Suki snaked her arms around Ty Lee, her fingers dipping low, then lower. Words strangled in Sokka's throat, and he bucked, and Suki gasped.

"I like him," Ty Lee said, Suki's forehead pressing against her temple.

"Oh, good," Sokka managed. He arched, his fingers twisting along with Suki's, and Ty Lee's thighs clenched around him as she came.

*

 

The morning sun fell hot across Sokka's face. He pressed his hands to his eyes, and Suki's laugh was quiet against his chest. He edged diagonally until the sunbeam's warmth faded, and he resigned himself to being awake. When he opened his eyes, Suki rose over him, kissed his forehead, his nose, his mouth.

Sokka smiled through the kiss, then froze when his hand brushed against a long braid. He turned his head and discovered Ty Lee, sprawled across their bedroll like a tiger seal. When he returned his attention to Suki, she pressed her chin into his chest.

"Is this weird?" he asked.

Suki shook her head, her hair tickling against Sokka's skin.

"Okay." Sokka grasped her shoulders, and she wriggled up, into a full embrace.

"We should train today," she said. "I want to be prepared."

"Okay," Sokka repeated, and he didn't even ask, _For what?_  



End file.
